-- god-fearing and remember what god said about sin. if something is essential, it is wrong, and not to be handled as if it is a ok -- i'm talking about homosexuality and -- i will pray for him every day, because our whole nation depends on how we can set ourselves and believe in the things that god has created is right. host: thank you for calling in. "national journal"post it a day after the 2012 election debrief. the conversation -- with a show

that to you now. harry reid is at noon today. john boehner is at 3:30 p.m. eastern time this afternoon. one more time, the website. go to c-span.org, you'll see the balance of power. the electoral votes. the balance of power in the house and senate. this gets updated automatically as races are called. becausedon't add up yet some of the races have not been called. you see view the full a.p. map, you'll see this map. it is a terrific tool.

you can click on any stakte. chose up red or blue -- it shows up red or blue. you can click on any state or governor and you have all your results right there. for a result geek, it is a godsend. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] host: going to the national journal now. >> our first panel is some of the best talent in the business . coming up to the stage and kicking off what happened last night, the this section of who one is our managing editor of

politics for national journal, our chief correspondent for "national journal," and our editor in chief of the entire newsroom. thank you very much. i know even the long night. thank you for being here. >> thank you for coming out so early. it turned out to be as long as a night as many people expected. we will talk about that today and why and how the president may go forward from this victory, was quicker and bigger than many people expected. we like to tell how this happened? >> it was bigger than we expected in the electoral college. he swept the battleground

states. the states he lost was in north carolina which he had won by 14,000 votes, and indiana, which was considered a fluke. the set of assumptions the obama campaign was operating on was correct. the set of assumptions the romney campaign was operated on at was nine. obama's theory about the campaign turned out to be correct and the battleground states fell his way. >> north carolina was the only battleground state that romney won. >> that is correct. out.ida is still allowe

this year is turned out to be irrelevant. iss? did the republicans m >> practically anybody who was brown or black, procter we anybody who believes that immigration is an issue that needs to be tackled. was a case where the republican party is stampeding towards prevalence if they don't catch up to the new america and the changing demographics. you cannot have a ruling coalition that is virtually all white. you had president obama put together this new rising coalition and put together enough of the old democratic coalition to win.

he got more than 7% of hispanics -- 70% of hispanics. young voters. the republicans are missing the idea of trying to expand their percentage of a shrinking electorate. this is becoming a majority- minority nation. this is probably the last time the republicans love a chance to win like this. >> let's talk about why this happened. how about mitt romney? how did he try to reach out to these people? >> i was talking earlier about

the fundamental assumptions underlying the campaign. romney's campaign believes the economy was basically going to be the single biggest reason that would turn voters away from the president. there was an attack ad and that message, they could reach women and hispanics and that assertion on its face seems like a pretty reasonable assertion. we knew no present have been reelected since world war ii with unemployment so high. obama changed the rule. he said he realized that unemployment was where it is but he will change the nature of the

electorate. >> he is the first incumbent president since and jackson to be reelected with fewer votes than he got the first time. he will win with low 300 electoral votes. that is hardly a landslide. it is his mandate? -- what is te?is manda he did say, "elect me because that other guy is really scummy." he is overseeing a polarized electorate. we are a very clean the

electorate. in walks president obama who now has to -- now has a second chance to fill the promises of his first election, which were to forge a consensus across the aisle to solve the big problems in this country. the election was too much about the small things. >> a stark reminder of the present cost challenge going forward. he won independence in 2008 but he lost them last night. he got out democrats. the center of this country preferred romney. >> the center of the country is tired of the status quo and

voted for the status quo. we have the same ruling structure. >> mitt romney did not present a tempting alternative, as beth put it in one of her stories. one place that will start is the republican primaries. that was an interesting process this year with interesting people running. it pushed mitt romney into places he did not want to go to . what can republicans do about that? >> romney saw he could get to his right of his rivals who are more conservative or immigration. he used that issue some would say to excess see himself as the

most conservative person in the race. >> severely conservative. >> he finds himself running with a gap of hispanic voters that is not sustainable and he cannot recover from that. >> is going to be a civil war starting this morning in the republican party. it will be a blast to cover. we'll have a contest between the priest and mathematicians in the republican party. the priest think there is no compromise and that we have to preserve our core american values and not compromise on the debt. cut spending and did not balance

the budget by raising taxes. that is the priest. then there is the mathematician. "texas b a swing states. -- will be a swing state." people like chris christie. the mathematicians solid he reached across party lines and had a voice and that maybe he is a chance to become the nominee. or chris christie could be an independent candidate. that will happen if the democrats and republicans do not get their acts together. >> do some pilaf and start compromising -- do some people

off and start compromising? the president had a speech last night that he would get to, ground on immigration. what do you think the prospects are? guest: you covered jeb bush in florida. >> he has been a leading mathematician. he said the republican party needs to embrace immigration reform, not just for political reasons but for economic reasons. there is common ground when it comes to immigration on the one aspect of immigration reform that deals with high skilled workers. we need to make sure the brightest who come here to get

educated are staying here. because of the other issues involving immigration, border security, folks not highly skilled, that muddies the water. perhaps this election will be the frying pan on the head of the republican party. >> there was talk about romney's change in tone. talk about this message versus substance debate they will probably have to have. should they just be nicer to hispanics? >> the public is more informed than it ever has been because of the internet. we are not getting the job done here in washington.

the same is true for the democrats. i was struck by the president's speech. he's never followed up on the 2008 speech. he was not able to fill those lofty promises. he was very powerful. humility. he said, "i heard you" and "you may meet a better president." that was a past tense. his task is to show he can walk the walk.

can he reach out to democrats in this environment? can he get up to capitol hill and do the hard work of governing and roll up his sleeves and humble himself in his office by spending time on capitol hill? can he live up to his words? a working relationship. >> he did say he wanted to talk to mitt romney about the future of the country. >> if he wants a third term through hillary clinton or joe biden, he darn well better do it. they had better grab the olive branch. republicans are tired of this.

>> a big theme was the so-called war on women. and the size issues like abortion and contraception -- emphasize issues like abortion and contraception. these issues usually -- you know what i'm talking about. if anybody knows missouri or indiana. what was going on on the campaign trail was extraordinary. you could see in the exit polling that the republican party is out of step with the majority of americans. i have some numbers here for you. 2/3 of the people said abortions to be legal most are all the time.

these are issues -- on the issues involving women, what needs to happen for republicans to make some inroads here? >> well, what i was going to say was that the very aggressive ads run by the obama campaign, planned parenthood on abortion -- the reason i think they were effective is that helped to paint that picture of mitt romney as a guy you could not live with. people were disappointed in obama. there were open to an alternative. under the scenario of those ads,

abortion would be illegal in all cases. birth control would be hidden in the back of the warehouse. they painted a doomsday scenario for women which in some cases really stretched the truth. we can see that it seems to have worked. >> i agree with all of that. the president was very effective on the people in my career targeting their constituencies, bourbon women -- suburban women, hispanics. very effective at micro targeting. listen to speeches and watch him change the targets, change who he was micra targeting.

watching it was very impressive. he lost the ability to speak to the nation as a unifier. he could have a mandate to lead. it was a great way to build a coalition and he is now the president again. he doesn't have a mandate. he has a chance. he has to pull out of the micro targeting, as effective as it might be. i got in the cab this morning to come here. "would you mind turning on any new station? i don't care which.' he he said no.

he will not listen to the radio today. he doesn't like the guy who became the president of the united states. it is not good for the country or for president obama. he has to recapture what he had in 2008 with his rhetoric and his action to speak to people. >> could he have won any other way? >> probably not. unemployment is about 8%. now when you aren't african- american in a country that still has racial issues. he ran the way he thought he had to do to win. >> it is reminiscent of 2004.

we had a similar situation with an incumbent. he went after john kerry's war record. >> what did president bush do? he claimed a mandate he didn't have on iraq and it sank his presidency. sorry to interrupt. >> is there a number to sum up the election? 47%. a moment to sum up the obama campaign, it was the first debate. these were self-inflicted wounds that these candidates may to themselves. much influence do you think they had? >> i think the 47% was a pretty

big deal. democrats have been laying the groundwork with these attack ads portraying romney as the guy who cared about the middle class and was interested in protecting rich people like himself. romney sort of betrayed himself. the democrats seized on that. it happened at a time when romney's candidacy was floundering. the first debate, he was able to put that 47% behind him, but the damage was done. >> he put that behind him in his first debate.

he spent all that money and allow time characterizing romney as an uncaring monster. all the sudden he looked reasonable. he looked like somebody who could be president. the president did not bring his a game. part of it was, romney had a huge advantage going into it. any challenger in the first debate wins by just showing up. it was a hyper advantage for romney. all romney had to do was not look that evil. >> he had been to about 20 debates.

>> the debate brought the election back to where it had been. it was really close. neither one would get a mandate. >> the democratic convention was a pretty interesting moment. democrats were not as dispirited. the debate you raised that impression, but not entirely. the republicans had a 1950's view of america. nuclear family. that is how their nominees have been. democrats come from dysfunctional homes and triumph over nontraditional circumstances. it is a different world.

i think it led to some under estimation of the democratic coalition. >> the underlying assumption of romney's campaign. they cannot turn out what they did in 2008. young people cannot turn out like they did in 2008 when somebody cannot find a job, and yet they did. that knocked the republicans on their heels. hispanics and young people increased their share. >> there are a lot of democrats could take the same view you do , that republicans are hurting themselves by putting in candidates that did not represent the 1950's style

nuclear family. there are a lot of people that live in a 19th of the's style nuclear family or want to. i don't think republican candidates have done poorly because they were not blue- collar enough. their policies and messages were not connecting. >> it is what you convey in terms of people. we are going to move to questions in a moment. let's talk about the money that was spent on the campaign. why don't we go to the audience? who has a question? >> hi. i was looking at the tracking poll. after the first campaign, romney was ahead for a it little

bit. around halloween, the sandy news started to kick in. president obama went ahead by point or less. do you see sandy play in? >> it robbed the challenger. it brought them for 3 or four days, six news cycles. the core issue was the economy. he wasn't able to get that message through for a few days. to some voters, it probably reminded some voters that this

guy is reaching across party lines and reaching to the governor from new jersey. they're sitting in for the first time. i think it did help obama by freezing things for a few days and giving him that commander in chief aura. >> there is an important role that the federal government plays. romney and paul ryan talked about the government needs to get out of the way. >> romney specifically said he would cut fema. >> the last thing people want when catastrophe strikes is the government to get out of the way. >> some people remember obama came in in the middle of a

crisis and he was cool headed. they were reminded that this guy doesn't react as much emotionally as we like to saee, when a crisis hits, he is the guy we would like to see. >> over here to your stage right. hi. what will be president obama's 3 legacy initiatives? what luck willie have getting those through to the congress? two.ll teaake an interview with "the des moines register." he talked about immigration.

he can get that done if he plays his cards right. he thought he could get a grand bargain. that will be harder to have a balanced approach to fighting what is -- that is two. >> i would think a third legacy would be a health-care. republicans have been saying all these things are going to happen under obamacare. now was on the evidence starts to come and. >> he always will be the first african-american president. relationships reproved is something we will look back on. >> he wants to reform the tax code. is another area where there could be more than a fleeting

impact. has he learned horrible or negotiation -- has he learned hardball or negotiation? >> bob carr. you talk about extending the olive branch. hand it?hould the hahe >> speaker boehner and eric cantor are not going anywhere. interesting to see how they danced together. will they be leading the party or the extreme right of the party? that will be something to watch. >> there have been some chastening experience is in the senate watch. that is an open question about

whether there will be room for compromise. >> obama should open a up to every wing in the party to show he is trying. >> one thing obama learned with sandy is how far perks can go. maybe we'll see more republicans going to the white house. >> small gestures matter. i believe mandates are earned after election day. heat reappointed mike mansfield to ambassador in japan. it was a small thing but it showed the democrats that maybe

this is a guy we should listen to. it wouldn't hurt him. a matter who won, she would recommend they get into his limousine and get back to the capital and show some humility and grace. that was good advice for mitt romney and 4 president obama. question right here. >> thank you. one of the constituencies the obama has put on the back shelf is a business. he made a promise that he would double exports within the last four years, but never reached out to industry, other than the auto industry and some of the larger manufacturers. how do you see the next four

years? do you think he will be the panufacturing industry to hel accomplish what he wants to? >> yes. yesterday he said, "i heard you. i will be a better president." >> cornell woolridge. i was curious with the expansion of the latino votes. bush made inroads along religious lines with the catholic community. i'm wondering what is going to be the next way to make inroads to that community. >> i think that is the frying

pan hitting the republican party on the head today, the latino vote. it wasn't as if the right thing was not on the wall. -- it was not as if the writing was not on the wall. this is the fastest growing share of the electorate. >> george bush reached out to the hispanic community. could they teach the republican leadership now? >> that is a two-part effort. is in a tone of our policy? i think it has to be both. marco rubio -- jeb bush was his

mentor. he was telling the party line on immigration. he didn't make illegal immigrants sound like the enemy. someone asked about common ground. another area we will see action is a dream act type legislation where marco rubio has put something fourth and i thing that might be an area where public opinion polls show most people agree, then people brought here should be able to stay. >> we saw with jeb bush and george bush that hispanics share a lot of values with the republican party. if he did not push them away,

you could grow the vote. if mitt romney, all he did was have the same percentage of the hispanic vote as george bush did, he would be president right now. they blew it. look at what the bush is es did. a lot of that was showing you are willing to listen. >> the bushes had major substance behind their tone. comprehensive immigration reform for people that were already here. that will be the price of admission for the republican party. there has been a lot of movement towards trying to prove the border has been closed, it is not as bad as the problem as it has been.

we're not going to have this problem in the future. that is the prerequisite a lot of republicans have put on it. we will see if it is good enough. or drive them to compromise. other questions? >> thinking about the progressive coalition that led the win for obama. obama does not act like a true progressive. what is going to owe them or give them? presumably they will expect something.

the payback on the standpoint of the progressive community. some of that is at odds with what we're talking about as an olive branch to the republicans. what is going on from obama pragmatically? do they have enough power to extract what they wanted? >> put yourself in barack obama's shoes. now you're thinking about your legacy. you also are thinking about what is good for the country. most folks elected to office want to do the right thing. "i got to do something big and be remembered for something." maybe he is not thinking about what he owes the progressive.

>> he has already given them a lot. don't ask, tel -- don't tell, dream act. >> a safety net for the left as well as the right. >> supreme court justices. >> that is a good point. that was a big thing. >> any thoughts on climate change? that was the issue that was not discussed during the campaign. politics has not changed. do you see any room for compromise? >> that is another way the storm

may have played a role, if only to move the needle a little b it. mayor bloomberg can not to endorse the president largely on that issue. the freak storm ravaged new york city. when storms like that happen, it does help consensus. i do not think that will be at the top of the agenda. immigration reform is probably more of the momentum behind that. >> there are two issues that have changed dramatically, 180 degrees. one is gay rights. this country went to a much broader acceptance of gay rights

and gay marriage. just stunning. part is a democratic shift. the other is a climate change. there was a big movement among evangelicals to save the lord's earth, to save the greatest gift we were given. it made a lot of sense with the far right's agenda. it has been turned into the exact opposite. climate change is happening and it is partially caused by human kind. that is happening just a few years after both parties in a pretty wide degree that

something had to be done for different reasons. stunning. >> somebody was compiling the best tweets of the campaign. "i agree with the scientific consensus on global warming. call me crazy." that's where things were. there could be changes to the party. >> it may take the economy to track before theon resistance to that eases up. >> true. any other questions? >> good morning.

the effect of redistricting and the relationship of congress and the president's. i live in maryland. seven of the eight winners -- maryland is now seven to one democrat to republican. if winners will have 60% of the vote, i see no reason to compromise. how do you see this may be changing or having to change in the future? i see no need to compromise because my constituents are voting me anin. >> it is the most pernicious problem with our democracy right now. there are too many congressmen and women who all they have to

worry about is not being primaried. they're protecting their left or right flank. they have no incentive to compromise. that is a big problem. >> we may see some kind backlash against the tea party. publicans had high hopes about taking back the senate. at some of the losses like dick lugar in indiana and in delaware -- these were tea party-inspired victories that some might argue cost republicans the potential to control the senate.

maybe there will be a reaction to that. >> the senate is tied up by the filibuster and how. the house writes the checks. it is dominated by people that care too much about appeasing the far right or the fiat -- far left. >> i think a lot will depend on john boehner and legacy he wants to leave and what kind of freedom he wants to give. there was such an enforcement of party discipline. that was the policy. they wanted to make obama a one- term president. if they want to win the presidency in 2016 -- >> they have to listen to the

tea party or the far left if they want to win their seat. they want to hang onto their jobs. wearing about my job. -- just worrying about my job. that is the attitude they take. >> i'm seeing it wrapup sign in front of me. it is the beginning of something new. we just elected a president. thank you very much for coming. >> thank you, everybody. >> thank you, jill, ron, and beth. we are fully committed this morning. we do have a coat check outside.

this will be quite a lengthy program. there are a few more empty seats in the front. panel number two will talk about the impact of last night's election for the issues that congress has to tackle in the near and more long term approach for the issues. leading the discussion is the editor in chief for "national journal" hot line. in the middle is the congressional correspondent for "national journal." thank you for joining us this morning. >> hi. i'm from the hotline. i have not slept a winnk. k. scott has done slept at all.

everybody get up and stretch. thank you very much. i wanted to make sure you had a chance to stretch. this has been a fund election to watch. a president gen it is only as good as a congress that will or will not work with him. saw a pretty tumultuous environment. democrats picked up three republican-held seats. joe donnelly in indiana. in massachusetts, elizabeth warren beat scott brown. republicans picked up the nebraska seat.

deb fischer will be the new senator. there are some races that yet to be called. give us your lay of the land. what happened last night? >> i was driving on last night on rock creek parkway and listening to c-span because i could not turn off the story. a woman called in from missouri . she went on about how awful it was with the increasing number of abortions and we need to go back to biblical values. that is what we needed in the country. the moderator asked about todd defeat.the

"i voted for claire mccaskill." the big picture for me, will affect my life is that obamacare has to digest the latest in a succession of bullets. obamacare now gets an opportunity to work. if it works, universal health care can be something in this country down the road. a lot of details attached to be solved. states have to decide if they are going to do exchanges. you don't have a republican president or sennate.

that was the one big possibly historic change that we saw. >> it is easy to give your head around what happened in the senate. it is harder to keep your head around the races in the house. take us through with the house stands. >> democrats having picked up one seat, but that might have changed. a lot of races are still allowout, including some on the west coast. there were almost two elections going on last night. republicans are running rampant in the south. providing any larger foundation

for the majority they are going to have. in the northeast, you had the opposite going on. democratic incumbents in court island and massachusetts -- in rhode island and massachusetts with extraordinary liabilities. you saw similar things happen on the west coast. both parties were further out in different parts of the country geographically and ideologically. this >> also happened farther down the ballot. the arkansas state has gone republican.

slyke the state house as gone republican which will leave democrats without a single legislative chamber in the old confederacy for the first time since the civil war. there is that migration. it happened in the senate where you have the incumbents who lost, scott brown, in a state 60%. obama won with >> you talk about claire mccaskill and talk about joe donnelly in indiana. since i was a young reporter, it is a big important part of the game. if he took -- if you went back

to last january, will rule the coming election, everybody was said super pacs, money, money, moneye . the republicans had a few losers and it showed on election night. that was a big lesson i took away. how pros can change the game. >> look at north dakota. montana -- the republicans were not happy with the race until the last month of the election. even in arizona, there was a recruiting class of one. democrats were not going to touch the state. republican

spend $4 million or $5 million to save flake. >> there is no reason why they should be elected democrat. talk to grover norquist. this is what he says. i have to find out what is in the water. >> you do a pretty good grover impression. >> there were some democrats that survived that should not have. >> one candidate that to buy that is in georgia, the beneficiary of an inept republican challenger. he probably ran the best tv campaign.

the seven democrats have to run the gamut appealing to the black liberal base in their district while appealing to the median voter that is white and conservative. he ran these ads you have to watch that appeal to inner-city rural liberals and ura whites and a fascinating way. he outperform the republican, where mitt romney won 50%. mcintyre is deadlock with his challenger. he ran a stellar campaign. mcintyre could run for chairman

of the republican party committee. >> the advertisement was with john barrow features him with his gun and that nobody would take it away from him. his grandfather used his gun to stop a lynching. fascinating way to thread that needle. one of the better ads of the year. we have scorecards for every major group on hot line. you can see how they did. the chamber of commerce and the nra didn't do all that great. they endorsed two democrats. >> chambers spent $4 million

trying to defeat tim kaine of virginia. >> north of $3 million in the hawaii race. the race problem wasn't a race to begin with. .et's go back to obamacare what was at stake? >> aside from obamacare, you have three supreme court justices that could come up. in the bird is 79. kennedy, and scalia are 76.

cryer is 74. -- bair is 74. that could possibly give obama two more separate court picks. -- supreme court picks. i think the senate is going to be slightly more liberal, the more radical, a lot more female. my sister once read a vote by a harvard professor called "it woman's way of knowing" and to suggest the women have a different way of negotiating than men. with 23 women in the senate, things may get done. you also have a lot of energy of new senators. there is a big scramble up there.

my overriding role is that if you are thinking about the fiscal clifford know, whether in the white house or if you are -- the fiscal cliff right now, what you are in the white house or you are the mitch mcconnell, you have to consider that voters in exit polls are saying that they're willing to take higher taxes, but they think government is too big. it is there. it is within reach. but john boehner has to be given some kind of cover so he can bring 140 republican votes with him. it will be very difficult to do a. obama will have to immediately decide whether he wants to go off the cliff with the bush tax cuts, or if he will try to get something big and mushy like tax reform. it will have to be massaged in

such a way through increased revenue and more money flow and fees. anything to avoid that horrible thing called a tax increase. >> we heard the last panel talked a little bit about redistricting and the impact on partisanship, especially in the house. the senate has gotten more ideological itself after last night. the democrats coming in include this gamut from elizabeth warren to heidi high camp. republicans, there are not many of them coming in, but jeff flake is on the oversight. >> jeff blake is a pro vote when it comes to climate change. elizabeth warren was a republican candidates through the clinton years.

the system -- director of the office of federal planning at the trade commission. this is one person attorney- general of the department of justice. domestic policy adviser to george w. bush. i jumped professor of law at the university of texas. his father fought against the batista regime. i'm talking about that great tea party rebel, ted cruz. you cannot look at this and say, this is what is going to happen. margo rubio, ted cruz, they will have that entry if they want to take it on reform.

there is a lot more chance, i think, for progress than we think looking back in the last two years and seeing what happens. >> the senate did get a little more ideological purity and this bogeyman that makes the house so ideological, that did happen. what is the impact on the house? >> i had to look to see if we were seeing an anti-incumbent year and a lot of people said no. a lot of members lost in primaries this year, but a lot of them were up against other numbers in the primaries. the numbers were even higher this cycle than it was in 2010.

in 2010 it was a double what it was in 2008. the pressure from the ranks is building each cycle. we're going to concede -- to see a continuation of what we saw with the freshman party -- the freshman class in 2010. this freshman costs will be about the same or larger, by the way. you have these guys coming in in places like florida. and cliff stearns was leaving the solyndra investigation. -- leading to the solyndra investigation. but he could not make it happen. it was not enough for his district. and i have a large animal that wants to see term limits and so on and so forth coming in.

on the other side, you ... longtime democratic from -- democratic members being -- you have a longtime democratic members retiring and been replaced. >> and then you have the fiscal votes. john brainard manage to round up republicans on the oversight of the caucus and joined with nancy pelosi and the government kept running. they put together the budget control act. they put together this bipartisan coalition. nobody wanted to take credit for it because it was embarrassing to the republicans to go back home and say, in the end, we are running the government in a bipartisan way. yes, there will be ideological hotheads. but even among those freshmen, what a star, killing the

pressure about the fiscal cliff approaching -- when they start feeling the pressure about the fiscal " approaching from the big factories, is that what they really want? i think it will get it done. >> it seems to me, there are two factions of the republican party battling for some kind of super messi. and it is the guys in the beltway, john boehner, mitch mcconnell, the leaders reverses the guys outside the beltway. the guys in iowa, rick santorum, the folks in south carolina who gave the primary to newt gingrich. beyond that, i feel -- ever since george of the bush's second term, there has been an anti-establishment reaction within the republican party.

they were embarrassed and angry with the bush administration. conservatism turned out to not be what they wanted. they wanted small government conservatism. i think everybody loves to many people into the tea party caldron. but you get the tides that are determined to come here and do something against leadership -- you get the types that are determined to come here and do something against leadership. in ohio, he mentioned he likes the trappings of office, if you will. he mentioned to me, how much leadership can you exert? how much control can you exert over your own conference? given the freshmen.

and he said to be, it is not the freshmen. he said it is some of the older members. he did not say who. i would have preferred if he did. that is those who are trying to have perfect scores on these ratings. they are the problem. because anti- leadership is good for them. and it is not necessarily good for the institution as a whole. i think we will see now that mitt romney has lost, we will see this heat up, the insiders versus the outsiders. the activist class is going to scream at the is -- mccollough siong fragging dominated the guy who lost. -- the activist cost is going to scream at the other costs for having nominated the guy who lost. >> they're the ones who survived, in part, because the conservative side is so splintered.

conservatives projected, way farther than they should. you can see someone like chris christie winning the nomination. he is the only moderate who? the sense to those voters in michigan and iowa and illinois. or you could see somebody like marco rubio doing it richard nixon and coming from the angry side and seeking roots into the more moderate base. >> we sit here and talk about how the republican party needs to moderate. those same discussions are not happening in iowa. in fact, it is the opposite. they are saying, we have nominated two moderates in a row. look where it has gotten us, no where. i think it will start to see people like rand paul. and certainly, bobby jindal from

louisiana. it will make a trip for two and test the waters. -- they will make a trip or two and test the waters. this new class, how are they going to react to being led? are they going to be able to be led? >> i think no one knows. that is kind of the point. in comparison to the enormous freshman class that we just had and everyone makes so much noise about, it is really instructive. considering the number of open seats that were left open for retirement and redistricting and so on and so forth, incumbents who lost, there will be more members of the house with fewer than two terms of experience in the 113th congress than any time in the last two decades in 1992 with redistricting and the banking scandal.

no one really knows. you have seen vader and cantor and other republican leaders fanned out across the country in the last few months. and even campaigning for incoming members who were in cakewalks in north carolina and cowart -- california and other parts of the country that did not need a fund raiser from the house majority leader. but you saw him putting in face time and getting to know these guys on the trail.possibly in he to work with them when they get here. >> or perhaps in securing their vote with republican leader elections, which happen to be run around a corner -- right around the corner. one thing that they have got overlooked in the broad scheme of the house, would talk about redistricting as evil. but there are some states that have taken a different approach.

the number one state that has taken a different approach is california. california has gone to a bipartisan redistricting commission. they drew lines without input of the state legislature, allegedly without the input of the state legislature. over the last decade, 53 seats in california, five house election cycles. 265 elections in california and only one seat out of those 265 times changed hands. now, though, we have seen -- as they are still counting a lot of districts, but we have seen eight or nine competitive seats with a very interesting stories. tell us about it. >> on both sides of the aisle, too. by the time we left the office this morning, there were 13 votes. there were about 200 separate in

congressman dan lundgren from his democratic challenger in -- sacramento.ine and mcnerney had a tough race, too. both parties made a real effort to try to invest time and resources with consultants and apparatus that they have never had to pay attention to before because there was no point in going there. it is going to be interesting to see what happens. given how many seats hang in a very narrow balance right now, what we end up thinking about the final results of this

election depends on a few hundred votes each in a half- dozen votes, which could tip an election either way. and you would never cease and the like this independently with redistricting. a two seats open up in the fast- growing hispanic communities in the central valley. >> it is interesting to watch these two party committees. these are data points they have not had for years on end. it has been an interesting process to watch. one more question that will go to question and answers. if anyone has a question, there are folks around a room with microphones. flight one down and will be able to grab them. at the beginning of the cycle, 23 democratic seats, only 10 republican seats up in the senate. it seemed republicans were all but guaranteed to net the four seats necessary to take back the majority now we know that did not happen, thanks to luck and

fortune and really dumb statements at debates and on camera. coming,this other thing and it is called 2014. not to jump too far ahead, but there will be a lot more, will there? >> yes, and democrats will be defending more seeds. it be 20 democrats. of the 15 republican seats, there's only one that is a prime takeover, and that is dubious, really. it is susie collins in maine. i think she could win a pre- election pretty easily unless maine republicans do something stupid and try to take her on in a primary. then you have frank leinberger, who will be 90 years old. you have jay rockefeller of west virginia, who is going to be 77. qf carl levin -- you have carl

levin. you have mary lender prior in arkansas. you have kagan in north carolina you have a seat that can be contested. to me, what that argument says is the senate, i don't think is going to be the obstacle to the grand bargain. it is the 140 republican votes that speaker boehner will have to get together. and actually, how does barack obama held boehner? -- help boehner? >> and another seat in 2014, mitch mcconnell's seat. whether in the primary or the general election, he is really concerned. he has been raising some the like a million dollars a quarter

in the off-year for the last year-and-a-half or so. he hired rand paul's campaign manager. he is seriously preparing for the contest. >> he made the comment to our colleague, major garrett, that our top priority is stopping barack obama. and they did it, and congressional approval rating went on to historic lows. talking about statements being made when television cameras are on, one thing about this polarization that we have where all we do is we only watch msnbc or with only watch fox and we only talk to people that we want to hear from, you begin to adopt this alternative reality. everybody is talking to you about the fact that when women are raped they cannot really get

pregnant and you tend to believe it. and the rest of the world says, are you out of your mind? eventually, that will become a risk for democrats as well. >> and by the way, i've been there is a kentucky democrat who is suddenly out of the job. then channel lost his seat last night. -- ben chandler lost his seat last night. >> since you just brought it up, what is the mark situation? -- the murdock, situation? is it that republicans should be more tolerant of women's issues? and even running at the end of the campaign ran an ad about women's choice. what is the message there? is it about tolerance? will they lose the women's vote,

or is that an anomaly? >> in talking about what the republican party should do, it brings up i run a difference between the two parties right now. on the one hand, -- an ironic difference between the two parties record on the one hand, democrats have an iron fist on who is able to get through their primaries. we saw this in maine earlier this year. a woman was running and she seatd olympia sassano's -- she wanted olympia snowe's seat. it was hard for her to raise money. across the country, democrats have the ability to pick their candidate, because of money supply, because of simple party organization, and simply the fact that the democratic

senatorial campaign committee is able to go in and not be the bad guy when they get involved in a race. on the other hand, you have the national republican senate committee, who because this act of his class outside of d.c. cannot stand anything from the clashed-- this activist outside of the baltic cannot stand anything from -- outside of d.c. cannot stand anything from they have problems prepare -- problems. they can do something here and there. they can guide a campaign stop to direct money into a fund or something like that, but to control who will be the nominee, they can really do that to the extent that the democrats can.

>> as you pointed out earlier, there is a regal when you talk about outside the beltway and inside the beltway. -- a wrinkle, when you talk about outside the beltway and inside the beltway. you have these grass roots organizations in the hinterlands, but actually, they are playing hard ball inside the beltway. this was one of the more smart comments i have heard. this was senator lugar's explanation to his constituents in indiana. he said, i sort of knew i was going to lose because after the races in 2010 i knew i was a likely target of the super pacs dedicated to defeating a least one republican as it purification exercise is to enhance their own power over

again republican legislature. that goes to you should not vote for the candidates that you love by you sure can apply pressure to get inside the beltway organizations that are out there trying to boost their own clout in washington for their own personal purposes. that is one thing that republican leaders could do to try to improve this candidate selection process. >> what did those types of groups, what role they play? but they played a role in trying to choose candidates, much like we just discussed. it seems like such a long time ago, the primaries. especially this morning.

>> i think yesterday's seems like a long time ago. >> but in general, -- actually, one particularly instructive incident was the club for growth and a rather aggressive letter to the house republican leadership in march warning them off in getting involved in the member verses member primary between david schriber and dan quayle -- ben quayle in arizona. it's certainly got a lot of attention. the fact that these groups are not afraid to step in for no particular reason is a large reason why we end up with candidates who are willing to say and do anything. >> and by the way, in that race, quayle was the leadership backed candidates and schwiekwer

was the growth backed candidates and he ended up winning. >> the comment has been made on what will need to be the relationship between speaker gaynor and president obama on achieving a grand bargain. i wonder if you could comment on what role mitch mcconnell and senate republicans could play when mcconnell is up for reelection in 2014. what likely role will mr. mcconnell and his senate republicans play in achieving a so-called grand bargain? >> our colleague, major garrett, did some great political sleuthing a few weeks ago.

he talked to some leadership aides in the senate and identified a dozen or so republican senators that could be relied on to vote for some kind of revenue package. the fact you now how a couple more votes toward the magic 60 number on the democratic side will have a little bit -- well, scott brown was one of the republicans that was being counted on. my personal instinct is that the senate is doable. it is eric cantor -- you know who could play tremendous role is paul ryan. he is a champion of the conservative side of the party, but his voting record shows that he will vote for smart compromises. he will moderate his views. and he is someone who could really sell a deal to the republican right.

the question is, is this the first step that he was to take toward being the nominee, cutting a deal with obama? or does he want to be the champion of, no way, we will stick with the ryan budget to the last man? >>, speaking of all right for a second, the most famous republicans in the house -- speaking of paul reihan for a setting, the most famous republicans in the house, paul ryan did all right on site. but a couple of the others, michelle bachmann had close race. alan west looks like he is going to lose. cimbri close contest for some well-known candidates. >> we have seen this in a couple of cycles in a row with michelle bachmann. she is learning that acting the way she does is great for fund- raising, but it is also great for her opponents fundraising, too. patrick murphy is looking like a good bet to join congress next year. he is a 29-year-old who worked

in his family's construction firm for a little while andreas god knows how many millions of dollars from all across the country -- and praised god knows how many millions of dollars from all across the country to just barely keep pace with the avalanche of tv ads that west put on the air. there is a benefit to being the tea party icon, but also a cost. also, going back to the question of what role the leaders will play in this, and even the earlier point about whether the members will allow themselves to be led, it is important to remember that congress will only hang around for three, maybe four days a week now. the people who are the freshmen and the folks like them that they are taking their cues from, they are not the party leaders. they are friends from back home. they run into them in the bar or

the diner. a friend of mine spent some time in rural florida and recently was one of the tea party infused freshman down there, mr. ross. he told him he does not feel pressure from boehner and cantor and whoever, but the guy he runs into a of the local restaurant. >> the pearly and strategy that won obama reelection, about part of it is putting the president in about a cross it, you did not have a president who went to georgia or texas or louisiana or montana and later helped bring in democrats, or soften up a little bit of this opposition, the constant pounding he has

been taking for four years that have demonized him in a lot of the states. that is one week as he allowed coming in. at the end of his speech last night, i thought it was highly significant that he went on to there is no red stains or blue states. if that is the way he governs, then it will be hard to go to georgia and texas and convince them that he means it. but that is the way he sings the words of health care. -- sinks the roots of health care. >> what did you learn last night in 30 seconds? >> it goes back to the party is sorted themselves into different parts of the country, sorting themselves further and further at ideologically from each other. and it is not just geography and ideology. is race also. if you look at the seats that republicans went after, the democratic seats that they still managed to go after, almost all

of them were more than 80% white, the populations. on the flip side commodified -- flip side, the majority of the republican held seat, the 40% on white or so were targeted by democrats. both sides were successful on the edges. more and more, the parties are sorting themselves further and further apart on so many different levels. >> what did you learn last night? gregg's i learned an amazing historical fact. this is the first time since jefferson, madison, and monroe that we have had three presidents elected to two terms in american history. i do not know exactly what it means, but there you go. >> either of the democrats have a real problem coming up. -- i learned the democrats have a real problem coming up. we've heard a lot about how they will do with demographics, how they will deal with hispanics.

what democrats have, though, is a problem with the obama coalition. they got it out in 2008. they got it out in 2012. can they get it out in 2014, in 2016 with another presidential candidate? or is this coalition specific to this individual person who has such resonance within the democratic base? i will watch how the democrats tried to uxor the obama -- tried to absorb the obama campaign organization in the next of olivier's. that will be as critical as the republican outreach is to that coalition. thank you very much. i really appreciate your time. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> and we continue our live coverage of election 2012 here at c-span. you can see these -- the c-span

website on your screen. right at the top you can see who is winning what, or who is ahead. 50 to 48 when it comes to the popular vote. the president won a 50%. mitt romney 148% at electoral votes. -- and electoral votes are 303 to 206. the gop maintained its majority in the house. they have lost some seat at this point. the democrats have increased their seat total to 191 in the house. and 51 to 45, the democrats will continue the majority in the senate. in about half an hour from now, harry reid will be doing a news conference. and we will bring that to you live from capitol hill. in the meantime, we want to cure from you on election 2012.

as always, you can send a tweet. and you can continue the conversation on our facebook page. greta brawner has been following the results all morning. what do you have? >> we have an update on the montana senate race. a winner has been called, democratic incumbent john tester will return to the senate. he beat out the republican 49% to 45%. it has been called by the associated press. it has not been quite updated for us, but it has been called. moving on to north dakota, heidi heitkamp is edging out the

republican by about 3000 votes is what we are hearing from his reports. will continue to watch receive a winner is called. moving on to the house, florida's 18th district, t party-backed out west -- tea- party-backed alan west is trailing by less than 3000 votes in that race. arizona 1st district also not called as of yet. the democratic challenger is leading with 49% to 45% over the republican. arizona's second also not called yet today. and arizona as ninth seed also not called. we will continue to watch these races. and moving on to california, california's seventh, you can see it is split.

dan lundgren is in a tough did there. ,nd california's 26th district the democratic challenger is leading with 52% of the vote. the republican, 40%. and the 36th district of california, the democrat is winning there. 's 52ndon to california district also not call. first, the republican leading with just a slight edge by 1% in that race. and north carolina's 7 district also not called as of yet. the democratic incumbent there, the vote is split between those two. also in florida, the presidential race has not been called yet. they are still counting absentee votes in many counties.

in miami dade, about 20,000 account. president obama leads rideoutte by about 46,000 votes. that only makes up about half a percentage point. we may not know the results of the floor door -- florida presidential race until later this afternoon. however, it does not make a difference. as many of you know, in the overall context, obama 1 overall. all of these results are also left c-span.org. >> let me show you this list. at present of all of north carolina was defeated. and several republican from illinois lost their seats. all republicans call from illinois, all lost their seats. leonard boswell, a longtime democratic member from iowa lost his seat. that was a member to member race in redistricting. republican tom laid them to a

bad seed from mr. boswell. and then roscoe bartlett, a longtime member from maryland, a republican, lost his seat and in new hampshire, frank guinta along with charles bass. and some republicans also lost their seats in new york. one democrat lost his seat in pennsylvania. and then another republican from texas also lost his seat. this is an ap story out of boston were the brahney/ryan campaign ended up last night. it says paul ryan will return to the house and resumed his role as budget committee chairman. we want to get your reaction to

election 2012. our first call is from barbara in hudson, florida. you are calling on the independent line. for whom did you vote? caller: i voted for obama. at women's rights is a very big thing for me. also, medicare, been age 41 and disabled and also a rape victim -- a rape survivor, i should say. i believe obama has the best thing. i was going for mitt romney at first, but when he brought up the issue is about women's rights, and also with medicare and making a voucher program, and also social security, that is where i went toward obama this year. host: that was barbara in hudson, florida. next is mark from brownsville, texas on the republican line. you are on c-span.

of what is your reaction to yesterday's election? disappointed in the way the election happen. i voted for mr. romney. i feel that because of the way the election has come out, america has turned its back on god by allowing same-sex marriage, abortion, killing dogs children. and the way i feel -- killion daud's children. and the way i feel, the democrats will be in charge in the next four years. god is going to remove his hand of protection across america in the next four years. we will become a third world nation. i talked to my brother last night in arizona. he said that in order for god's plan to fall into place, obama

had to win. in order to bring america down. and god is going to bring america down in the next four years. host: and your brother thinks feddis daud's plan? caller: yes. host: john cornyn, head of the national senatorial committee made a statement this morning regarding last night. u.s. senator john cornyn tonight made the following statement.

here is the "new york times" and how they played last night's election. here is the, "wall street journal." the "washington times." andy "washington post" -- and the "washington post." cynthia on the democrat's line, good morning. caller: my view is how to do with the racism. there is a much divisiveness in terms of the racism. in order for both parties to move ahead, i think that's something needs to be done there. there is racism, and the other topic was how women were huge,

especially by the republicans. women are people prepared -- our people. god gave us all the power to think on our own and there is nowhere that he says women cannot make choices. and men, especially on the republican side, are going to have to realize that women should be able to say what we allow with our bodies and not allow. host: can you give us an example of what you mean by racism in yesterday's election? caller: racism in terms of black and white, hispanic -- host: you mean, in terms of how they voted? caller: no, in terms of being singled out. being singled out as, oh, you are black. they did not say it, but in essence, you all eat watermelon and this is how you are.

host: who was saying these things? caller: in terms of how you view the different cultures. there is divisiveness in cultures. romney, he put a lot of division in terms of culture, culture being black to white, culture being white to hispanic. there was divisiveness in those two areas. host: that was india in illinois. this is rolando in the brothels, texas. good morning. calling at an independent. i registered as a democrat, but i am an independent. the american people did the right thing. the american people rejected the idea that our government could only focus on the large and gritty corporations. -- agreed corporations.

those corporations ship those jobs out of the united states and they just want a tax cut helping them. i think americans rejected the notion and also the idea that we can have responsible capitalism. capitalism is great, but we also need the social safety net that is provided for us just just ine capitalism runs rampant and leaves us at the wayside. i think the american people did the right thing. whites, blacks, latinos, the agents -- asians, they are educated and they are down. and for everybody that things latinos are just about immigration, nokomis we are working class. -- no, we are working class. we are teachers, businessmen, entrepreneurs. we care about this nation more

than anyone -- more than anything else as well. we want the nation to succeed. if the nation falls, we fall. host: what work you do in texas? caller: i work in education and i also work with the u.s. government. host: in what capacity? caller: i do not want to share. host: some of the new members coming into the u.s. congress in january include joseph kennedy, the grandson of robert kennedy, taken target -- barney frank's seat in massachusetts. richard hudson, a republican from north carolina. alan grayson was defeated osterman. he won big in the orlando area. lois frankel, a democrat of illinois. tammy decorous -- tammy du

ckwirth, who you may know. she was in the iraq war. sherri bestows, a democrat from illinois. brad scheider, democrat of illinois. rodney davis, a republican in illinois. and tom latham, he is the one who beat leonard boswell in the member on member race. and john delaney in maryland. and finally, kerry bentovolio is a new member. greta brawner, what do you have for us? i want to go back and begin with nevada. president obama -- >> i want to go back and begin with the bottom. polls showed that unions, hispanics and women carry the vote for obama there. and the state of colorado, colorado ranks sixth in the

nation for hispanic voters. 74% of them voted for president obama in colorado. and in iowa, president obama wins 52% over mitt romney's 46%. president obama split the senior vote 50-50. moving on to wisconsin, barack obama 53% 2 mitt romney's 46%. and the youth vote may have carried president obama in this state. 18-29-year-old's boy overwhelmingly voted for the president. and what men, too, in this day. 52% voted for barack obama vs 42% for mitt romney. moving on to ohio, this is the state there but it was watching closely. 22% of voters came from union

households in ohio. and in north carolina where mitt romney 1 -- excuse me, florida. this is one that has not been called. president obama has bought 45,000 in the lead in this debt -- has about 45,000 in the lead in this state. moving on to north carolina, the economy was a big issue there. governor romney was able to come out ahead at there. and in virginia, again, the female vote was a big one. he won with female voters and black voters. and you hampshire, 47% -- 40% of voters are independent voters. they put obama over the top here. in the maine senate race, the winner is and is kaine, an end -- angus king, and

independent. he said he is coming to washington next week. there is an orientation and he plans to talk to both leaders about who he would caucus with. senate majority leader harry reid has already made a courtesy call to him. all results can be found at our website c-span.org. host: speaking of majority leader harry reid, he will be holding a press conference in about 10 minutes. we will bring you live coverage of that. and speaker vader as well at 3:30 p.m. -- speaker boehner as well as 3:30 p.m. we will bring that life as well. i want to show you more new house members coming in. the democrat from nevada.

jerry in maryland on the democrat's line. good morning to you. caller: good morning. i would like to thank c-span for all of the coverage. you really do give a dispassionate view, just the facts. make up your own decision. i hope -- i hope they increase

your budget 5% more because it really kept me informed for the spirit host: did you use our web site last night? caller: yes, along with the other pundits between fox and msnbc. host: do use the interactive map that we have out there? caller: yes. host: wasn't nothing amazing? i am really enthusiastic about this map -- wasn't that thing amazing? i really enthusiastic about the smacker -- of the map. i am not dispassionate when it comes to the website. caller: it was great. the need to come out with an app for the android for the tv because i really love the app for the radio. host: i'm sure the right people are listening to what you just

said. caller: yes, come all, with an ap before the video for c-span one, too, and three. host: we will have to leave it right there. a few more calls. at the one defeated senator, senator scott brown in massachusetts. elizabeth warren beat him. but the new senators coming in, greta talked about the independent in the end -- in maine a few minutes ago.

orrin in charlottesville, va., on the independent line. good morning. what are your thoughts on election 2012? caller: i would like to comment on the republican party pretty much sealed their fate by the vice presidential pick. two in rickman. we reverse nation. -- two angry white men. we are a diverse nation. i'm sure there was a another pick.

host: if you had been mitt romney on the republican side, who would you have considered? caller: i would have interviewed condoleezza rice. i would have interviewed the hispanic politician in florida. host: marco rubio? caller: yes, sir. host: moving on, we are going to s.i.. first of all, hurricane sandy, were you hit? and did it affect your voting process? caller: i am very blessed. i was two blocks away from where the storm was hit very hard. therefore, it did not affect my voting. but yes, we have been hit here, especially in midland beach and south beach near where i live. i have been part of the

volunteer efforts to help those in my community. s.i. is a republican city of new york. i do not think they would have done the same for us african- americans here in s.i.. i did want to comment on the election. a lot of people made it out to be a black and white thing. but for black -- for african- americans, it was way more than color. we have more issues on our mind as women, as people working for the city of new york and other cities around the nation. we want a clear future, a better future. there are many, many issues onta -- on the minds of african- americans, and color was not a main factor in as voting.

host: there -- the voting process, did the hurricane affect it at all? caller: to be honest, and yorkers are strong. it is not a cliche. governor cuomo put in an executive order. people could vote wherever. it seemed like about working. i have a lot of friends who were volunteering intents -- in tents. they had a tense to replace colin sighed. overall, people were still able to come out and vote in staten island. brooklin, a researcher. host: some of the new governor's that we will be seen. -- seeing.

mike pence is succeeding mitch daniels. mitch daniels, by the way, is the new president of purdue university. courtney, please go ahead. we have about a minute left. caller: i would like to comment about the previous caller about race. i think we run from that issue. if you looked at the republican base, it is in states that are predominantly white with no diversity. if you look at where the democratic base is, it is in states where there's a lot more diversity. it is definitely going to be problems -- a problem for the republicans moving forward. host: thank you for your call.

the next call is from lakewood, new jersey. caller: it does not make sense howard is possible for barack obama and the democrats to pick up a few senate seat and house seats when we are going toward a fiscalhost: what do you think at your governor's work on hurricane sandy? caller: i think he is doing a great job. i have one problem. why did he up to comment on obama so much more? him, whyhave been tthanked more than any other governor? host: do you think that hurt govenor romney? caller: think he would have won anyway, but it definitely hurt him. in the future if he wants to one -- run on a national ticket, i

think it will hurt him. i think conservatives will be a bit a great at him. that is what i think. host: 8 in lakewood, new jersey. we are waiting for senator read it to begin his press conference, post-election press conference. here is the front page of "usa today." try to fit in this last call from geraldine in brooklyn. caller: hi. i just wanted to comment about the election. it was a very hot pot battle for the president, but i am glad he won the. it seems to me the animosity on the other side, the republicans

seem to fight the president the first term. they seem to be determined to bring this president down anyway and any means possible and try not to work with this president and help this country move forward. instead, they are determined to push the president to appoint where they can be nonpartisan and not work with him on no issues. this make the whole country divisive. this way we can constantly tried to be divided, instead of coming together and push this country in a way that we can all come together and work together and make something out of this country that we can all be proud of. they are looking for reasons to make this country divided and choosing between which party should have a better party and dividers from that.

host: geraldine in brooklyn. after harry reid has finished the press conference, we will continue to take calls on election 2012, the reelection -- the reelection of president obama. john vader will be depressed conference. oehner will then have a press conference. caller: i voted for president obama. he is really, really honest. he is a decent, honest man. for those who attacked him on every level personally, they need to be careful. he flip flopped. if that is not lying, and not being truthful to the citizens,

then i do not know -- this is why they ended up this way, the republican party. they are even fighting amongst themselves here in fort worth. and i think political pundits need to look at texas. the hispanics are real strong population here. they are a force to reckon with. you need to start watching texas in the future. thank you. host: next call comes from patty in montclair, new jersey. what do you think about yesterday? caller: yesterday i voted for mitt romney. today obviously i am not upset, you have to work with what you have that. as far as i am concerned, i would like to know where the mainstream media is on the be nghazi issue and hurricane

sandra. there are girls that have no heat and light that are being raped in s.i. in brooklyn, but that is not being exposed on the media, only the local news. on libya, i would like to know how come when for the obama's of his toe for each and ice cream cone, we see pictures immediately, but yet four people were murdered, and two of them were u.s. navy seal here rose and we have not seen one picture coming out of the white house of the situation room. that tells me something is very, very wrong with this country in the liberal media is so it shallow that they do not really care about their fellow americans. obviously not.

they are not. the hurricane is being crushed under the rug. it is the league right now. i would like to tell everybody that the people are begging for cleaning products and bleach. if anyone can get them to the garden state plaza, red cross is they're waiting for people to drop off. they have enough food and water. right now it is freezing and snowing. please pray for these people. especially the young and vulnerable. host: this tweet -- prediction in the 2016 campaign, hillary clinton verses jeb bush. the presidency is turning into a monarchies. a couple of minutes left -- let before harry reid against the press conference.

please go ahead with your comment. caller: we took god out of this world. we do not recognize him. we cannot do anything on our own. god is the leader, and we have to realize that. he put obama there because he wanted him there. he will work through obama. the republicans have to stop and think. we need to come together, to love god, and there will be peace. host: if you get on, please turn down the volume on the tv so we do not get the delay. tracie in mississippi on the independent line. caller: i just wanted to address the nation of the university of mississippi. anduporning we wil

turned on the tv and students were disgruntled about the election. they said it was a peaceful demonstration. but students were burning the obama signed an protesting against the election results that started on social media. we have to reach out to the young kids and not teach hatred and come together as a nation. a house divided will never stand. i do believe we need to start with the young, because hatred is taught, not learned. that behavior needs to stop. >host: 12 takes from the election yesterday. she went through a number of things such as unions are not dead, mitt romney did the best he could. number five, history as a guide is overrated.

was it 2000 or a bit like 1976? it looks like harry reid is about to enter the room in the senate press gallery in the capital of the third floor. its two floors above for the senate meets. we will try to get a college

friend david and jerry krieg, new york. republican line. i may have to cut you off mid- sentence. go ahead and make your comment. caller: ok, i voted republican. now that mr. obama is an office, when it is congress going to start proceedings to an appeal to him? detroit onele in t the democrat line. caller: i have been listening to you, and it is so sad in america today that people will not acknowledge what this is all about. our president is doing the best he can, and i feel due to the circumstances of how he came into office, the cards he was

still, he is handling it the best he can. people want to put everything on obama, and it is a race issue. here in michigan we suffered through the economy, and it is because president obama and the bailout of the auto industry that we have been given a second chance. people are just not acknowledging what it is really all about. it is a lot of grace. host: did you vote yesterday in person? caller: yes, i did. everyone was ready to go. host: how were the lines? there were 6: $ about 30 people in front of me. 7:00 when the doors opened, people were ready. people put their patient shoes

on and were ready to get out and vote. host: it looked like michigan overall was like 63-47, the boat breakdown for the president and mitt romney. the you think if he had campaigned and might have gotten closer? we will have to leave that as a rhetorical question. here is senator reid. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> i am not kidding, i am glad to be back. [laughter] it was a late night, early morning. going to clear we're increase the majority. the results show a number of things. one is that we are the party of

diversity. look of the results from all over the country. i am looking forward to working with some of the great accomplished people. i have talked to virtually every one of them. remind everyone when i came to the senate, barbara mikulski was it as far as women. now about a third of the caucus will be women. remarkable work done by all these three senators to be. the election is over, and we have enormous challenges ahead of us. they are right here. and we have to sit down and go to work on them now and not wait. this was really the message the american people sent from all over, and that is they are tired

of the partisan gridlock. they are tired of things like i have one goal, the feet obama. -- defeat obama. he was reelected overwhelmingly. american people want us to work together. republicans want us to work together. democrats want us to work together. they want to balance everything, but especially the situation we have with the huge deficit and taxes that are part of that. i can remember my first press event after i was selected as democratic leader. i was so afraid. i really was. as i do on occasion come off the cuff -- as i do on occasion, off the cuff, i said i know how to

fight indians. i do not be as well as the fight, but would much rather dance any time. i still feel that way. it is better to the ads then to fight. it is better to work together. everything does not have to be a fight. that is the way it has been the past couple of years. so everyone should comprehend that legislation is the art of compromise and consensus building. political scientists have covered this for a generations say and continue to stay the way we get things done is to work together. we need republicans to help us. compromise is not a dirty word.

i'm willing to negotiate any time on any issue. i have spent a lot of time here, but before i came here, that is what i did. i was a lawyer. frankly every time you have had a jury trial, in one sense it was a failure. you should of been able to work something out. so i am convinced we need to start working together. gridlock is not the solution, it is the problem. that is what has happened. i repeat, to have the leader of the republicans in the senate say his number one goal is to defeat obama and that is how it legislated for two years, bringing closure on motions to proceed that's -- i found

closure on 17 different judges. that has never been done before. this is no time for an excuse in any way. it is time we get to work. we can achieve really big things when we work together. that is what the american people said last fight in a big way. i will do everything within my power to be as conciliatory as possible. i want to work together, but i want everyone to also understand, you cannot push us around. we want to work together. questions? >> i talked this morning to a couple of republicans that something they did so badly in the polls last night is because mitch mcconnell did not push for enough be moments -- enough votes on merit or repealing

health care or guns. >> how about six weeks on contraception on highway bills? did they remember that? >> it looks like there will be filibusters on motions to proceed. a new chance -- plans to change the filibuster? >> yes. i have said so publicly. i continue to feel that way. u.s. the question, and i am answering it. yes, i do. i think the rules have been abused, and we will work to change them. we will not the way with the filibuster, but we will like this that a more meaningful place. -- we will make the senate a more meaningful place. the issues of same-6 marriage and abortion, the american people are not interested in that. they are interested in doing something about the staggering debt we have. the election was pretty clear in

a number of ways. the president campaigned around the country saying we know what the problems are with the fiscal problem, we just need revenue. that was the issue. the mandate was look of the polling, the vast majority of american people, everyone agrees the richest of the rich have to help a little bit. >> the speaker said i am repeating a stand on no increase in taxes. >> i had a conversation this morning with the speaker. it was a pleasant conversation, as all of my conversations with him are. they will do -- he will do an event this after them and should wait to see what he has to say there. i have a fine relationship with him. is that works well with his. this is not something i will

draw any line in the sand, and i do not believe he will. we need to work together. >> do you think a deal is possible? >> of course. that is so simple. we know what the issue is. >> what is your take on that? what can be done for this congress? >> the republicans have to make the choice. we're willing to work something out, sooner rather than later. i do not know how they think they benefit by waiting until sequestration kicks in. are you looking at a temporary -- >> i am not for kicking the can down the road. i said we of done that too much. we know what the issue is. we need to solve the issue. waiting for a month or six

months is not want to solve the problem. we know what needs to be done. i think we should just roll up our sleeves and get it done. >> any questions over here? the treasury department said last week it will hit the debt limit at the end of the year. >> i think the debt ceiling will come after the first of the year. please accept this. they have tried it before, bay, the republicans. they tried it before. we will shut down the government and not raise the debt ceiling. they want to go through that again, fine, but we are not going to be held subject to something that was done as a matter of fact and all previous administrations. >> have you spoken to jack lew

or any other white house official about their position on the fiscal clip and an idea of when they will speak out about what they want to see done? >> i have a nice conversation -- had a nice conversation with the president last night, and we're want to work together, and he made very clear in the speech to get to the american people last night after he was declared the winner that he wants to work to get this done. we're want to do that. -- going to work to get that done. >> your conversation with angus king. >> i talked to governor king on -- in several locations in the past 24 hours. we had a very pleasant conversations. he is going to make a decision soon as to what he is going to do. you should talk to him. >> [inaudible]

>> as i tried to make clear here, there was a message sent to us from the american people based on the campaign, and that is people making all this money have to contribute a little bit more. all of the exit polling, all of the work we've done, the vast majority support that, including rich people. to have this diatribe by the republicans, some republican sagging we are not going to raise taxes on small business, please, -- we know that the president, -- we all agree there

is about 3% of the people worried about the tax increases for small business, 3%, including donald trump. >> can i ask you about immigration? you mentioned your party is the party of diversity. given the results of the election, which -- where does immigration reform fall in with the current immigration list? take a very high. i have

heard calling for barack obama, not one of them has put the country first. it is all for selfish reasons. that is all i have heard. we cannot afford to pay for every program you can think to make up. we just cannot. we have to get a hold of it somewhere. it saddens me the things that are born to happen.

hospitals are born to shut down. they help so many people. and do it for free. we could get into a litany of issues. i would like to hear someone say they want the country to succeed, that they want it to pride, that they want people back to work. -- to thrive. host: thank you for calling in. host: want to take a look of the most expensive senate races. virginia tops the list with nearly 80 million spend. timothy keane comes out on top democrats. the democrat wins in that state with 54% to scott brown.

it is pretty much split between what the candidates raised and outside groups. grand totals of 65 million. brown wins. the democrat. 50%.e% tammy baldwin wins 51% to t tommy thompson, 46%. these numbers could go up. in the state of connecticut, the republican, it will be businesswoman has spent nearly 100 million of her own money on the last two senate bids. she loses to chris murphy, the democrat. she broke the record for the most money spent, personal money spent on an election bid, beating out ross perot.

a more senate results, go to our website at c-span.org. >> the top banner of the web site, the balance of power as that now stands. it the% for the president. the electoral votes, president obama got more than the 270 needed. florida still not included in that grouping. 218 is the majority. 51-45 in the senate. some of the races still are not called and the senate. that is why they are not included in the totals. maggie from politico has written the 12 takeaways from election 2012. we of god through a couple of them. here is 26.

ryan did no real brain damage and serving as a gold -- good soldier who never undermine the top of the ticket. he was no sarah palin. he rallied the base but did not end up having any sort of game- changing impact. but also worked in the republican favor. it is not clear the rights and budget and the issue of medicare as about program played a critical role in the race. certainly not easy to say he was a drag on the ticket. number seven takeaways, the bush problem lenders. there romney's refusal to triangulate away from george w. bush is one of the stranger decisions he made in this political climate. exit polls from tuesday night show a majority of voters still blame bush for the weak economy. this could be cause for concern for jeb bush, who was widely

viewed as the potential 2016 hopeful in the middle of the road voice on immigration reform. to reset in jacksonville, fla., a democrat line. teresa. caller: i was calling because there is some much hatred. i do not know why everyone want to put down the president. the president could only do as much as he can. he can only do as much as congress will let him. there has been so much racism going on. everyone needs to come together. through the whole campaign you had the government-. we want to hear about how people can move forward and get jobs and all that. i believe mitt romney would have won, but he was just so negative

about everything. then you have people just not getting together. always talking about racist. he won because he was black. or you blacks just voted for the president. i wish we could all come together and let the country move forward. we all need to get back to work. that is it. host: did you vote yesterday or prior? caller: i voted yesterday. our lines were not long. host: will you miss the telephone advertisements from being a swing state? caller: i am glad it is over. i did not care who won, just as long as they get people back to work.

on the republican line. caller: the reason i am calling is california is a democratic country -- state. it does not matter whether it is obama or mitt romney. i voted for romney. as long as they talk about immigration. i was thinking with a dream at, this would cause more people to come here. without any green card or something, you know? host: can you hit the mute button on your tv? just listen through the telephone. we will talk a little conversation. do not worry about the tv. keep going. caller: i am listening on this

ee scpn. around a fireplace is mostly illegal people. they do not even pay taxes. i am a small business person. i did not do anything bad. the thing is, i have to pay $300,000. and i work seven days a week. i am 80-years-old. these people are running around not even paying taxes, and we have to paid -- support them. i am really upset. host: what kind of business do you have? caller: i am in the real-estate. i service some of my clients without any pay, without charging them anything because i am a retired bouncer for 45

years, so i just service these people for free. their houses are being foreclosed, so i give them the services. i am concerned about the 16 trillion dollar deficit that we .ave pier ye i have and grandchildren that will support for it, and that is not including this year. and another 1.4 trillion added. i wish the government will pay some of them because of interest we are paying. host: let's leave it there. next is sarah from bianbryan, texas. independent line. what did you think of yesterday? caller: first of all, i want to

say how grateful i am for c-span tv, because you get a lot more of an objective opinion. also, the documentary channel, because when i look at the manipulation of fox news nbc and the spinnb on everything -- i voted for barack obama because i am no longer a republican. i am very conservative and christian, but i can no longer support what is happening the

allie lies. i was thrilled when george bush got elected because i thought we will have a great christian president. i started praying about the war before we went into it, and just things i know about the work we've done, and when i really look into what is going on in this country and what happened with all of the deregulation and the banking industry and the derivatives and swaps and real- estate and all of these different things and really trying to educate myself and searching for the truth and asking myself, to be beyond party identification, this is what i would truly loved to see in this country is that we no longer identify ourselves.

there are parties with the democratic party, too. host: can you bring this to a conclusion? caller: yes, i just hope the american people stop voting by group identification and really try to research the facts. host: we will leave it there. and next is ted from tennessee. you are calling on the democrat line, good morning. good afternoon i should say. caller: i just wanted to call and make the comment that i hope the republicans have learned a lesson. they need to diversify and their base. they need to allow blacks and more hispanics. hispanics in their base. host: we got the point.

a reminder, if you get on the air, please turn down the tv. it will be able to hear everything through the telephone, i promise. we look at this a little bit earlier. this is joe decanter writing in -- jody cantor writing in " the new york times" --

that is just a small section of what he is writing about and these meetings with presidential historians the president has been holding. if you are interested it is in "the new york times." >> before we take our viewers to the national journal event of the top of our work, we want to go through the races that have not been called yet. we will begin with one that was called late this morning, the

montana senate race. john tester has been declared the winner. there is another senate race, one senate race outstanding in north dakota. we do not know who the winner is. they are split. moving on to the house, this is alan west's seat. in this seat as well. he has asked for a recount. we may not know the answer to this for a while. moving on to arizona, three races that have not been called in that state. arizona's first, second, as well as the ninth congressional district of all not been called. in california, there are four

races. the seventh district, 26 districts, 36, and the 52nd district as well. just a quick glance of those that have not been called. michigan's first district also not declared. north carolina's seventh district also won. that has yet to be declared. you can go to our website to find those results. if you want to watch the national journal event, you can still have your laptop and follow along in real time with our website and find out when those races get called, if they get called today. to go there is an interactive map of our website -- >> there is an interactive map on our web site. it is really good and easy to use. you can see the exact results. i was clicking on this in

arizona. it is about 2000 votes separating these two. that is what it looks like. you can go to the house, senate, president, governors. it is it really easy and intuitive to find your way around this map. in just a few minutes, we will be going to the national journal for their post-election briefing. the editorial director of the national journal will be conducting. some of the people includes stan greensburg and elaine chao. she is currently a distinguished fellow at the heritage foundation, former secretary of labor under george the view bush and white of senate minority leader mitch mcconnell. here is mitch mcconnell's statement.

again, and that as much mcconnell statement about election 2012. time for a few more phone calls from you. st. louis on the independent line. give us your impression of election 2012. caller: wpw/ ow.

i would like to say thank god is over. i would like to congratulate president obama on winning. i would like to congratulate mayor running on his speech last night. i thought it was eloquent for someone who started to dislike. i think mitt romney had bad advice. if you give that advice, it reflects on the people. chrysler and jeep, i think that is what really took him out of the race, the crisis statement. and a lot of other things. but we all know they did not treat this as four years. i do not look at this as a second chance, but a

continuation of the first chance. it was not fair. they know who they are. anytime you have over 400 filibusters', probably as many as throughout history against one person tried to do something, that is not fair. i would like to see the filibuster go back to the old way of doing it where you take the floor and stand until you fall. i like senator mccain's ideas on compromise. i thought he had great ideas. i would like to congratulate him. i would like to congratulate my center, clear but paschal. way to go, girl. a couple of other things. early voting, i think that is wonderful. i think that is why we are able to get the results so quickly. florida has its issues, but the

world has its issues. us about yourself. caller: construction worker. my dad worked for 30 years at general motors. then we started a small business. the elderly, sick people. that grew into a nice business. me and my brothers separated. my dad had a minor heart attack. so we all started our own ses working.workin getting ready to head to the east coast and bring some help over their. i was born, raised in america. st. louis. marched